In today's fast paced society, people often cannot afford the time to sit down at a full-service restaurant, wait for someone to take their meal orders, wait further for the meal orders to be prepared and then served at their tables, and then wait again to pay the checks. The need for fast food service is particularly acute in the case of business travelers, and, to a large extent, also vacationers.
Currently, most mid-market hotels run, typically on-premises, full-service restaurants and/or coffee shops catering to their guests. Such full-service food facilities require a considerable number of hotel employees to fully serve their customers, including one or more chefs, numerous waiters and/or waitresses, a hostess, a busboy, etc. Moreover, such full-service food facilities take up a considerable amount of space that must be maintained, as well as extensive furnishings, e.g., tables, chairs, and the like. Consequently, full-service restaurants involve a considerable capital investment, are highly labor intensive, and, at least in the case of many of those in mid-market hotels, unprofitable. Consequently, many such hotels have closed their full service eating facilities and, in some cases, installed food vending machines so their guests can at least find something to eat on the premises.